A Friend's Comfort
by FaithInHim4ever
Summary: When a storm hits Wonderland, seven-year-old Alicen Sierra Kimberly Miller finds comfort in a friend. Takes place before "A Long Night." R/R


DISCLAIMER: We DO NOT own any of the chars from AIW. They belong to Disney. I only own Alicen Sierra Kimberly Miller and her little sister, Samantha. If anyone else would like to use them, please ask my permission first.

God loves you!

Enjoy!

A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this story! My friend, Kate and I certainly enjoyed writing it!

""A Friend's Comfort"

"There we go." Hatter said triumphantly. "Your turn, Alice. Let's see if you can beat that."

Alice glanced down at the UpWords board and giggled. Hatter was silly sometimes. Actually, Alice thought he was silly most of the time.

"Mr. Hatter, that's not a word!"

Hatter glanced down at his work and shrugged.

"It is here." He said.

"Stop telling her stuff like that." The Queen scolded from her favorite chair. Then to her daughter she said, "Don't listen to him, Alice. That's not a real word here or anywhere else."

"But you always tell me to listen to people who are older than me."

"She's got a point, You're Majesty." Hatter chimed in. "And anyway, who says that Wobearix isn't a word."

"I do and everyone who studies the dictionary."

"That may be so for the regular dictionary. But something tells me our Alice has never set eyes on the Wonderland dictionary."

"That makes two of us." The Queen retorted.

"There's a dictionary just for Wondaland?"

"Yes indeedy doo."

"Why haven't you read it, Mommy? You're the Queen."

The Queen shot Hatter a look.

"Sue me for trying to instill some Wonderland knowledge into our young Alice."

"The only knowledge I want her to have is from reliable sources."

"Exactly." Hatter agreed. "I couldn't' agree more. That's why I happen to have a copy of the Wonderland Dictionary right here. Hot off the Wonderland press."

Alice abandoned the game for the time being and ran over to get a closer look.

As Hatter sat down in his usual chair much to the Queen's chagrin, Alice wasted no time in making herself comfortable on his lap.

"Ah, here we go. There. See?" He said pointing to a particular page. "Can you read what that says?"

She nodded as she leaned over and examined the page for herself.

Giggling at the picture, she moved on to the text.

"Wobearix." She said. "The preferred exercise of Wobears."

"See? I told you so. And here's a picture to prove it. Come on, You're Majesty, take a look."

"I don't need to look at that picture or read that ridiculous definition to know you know absolutely nothing about Wobears. Besides, how did you become such an expert on them?"

Hatter shrugged.

"Well, if you've ever been lost in the Wonderland woods for a week, you learn pretty quickly whose friendly and who to stay away from. Fortunately, the Wobears welcomed me and they were pretty generous with their honey supply."

"Wobears eat honey too?" Alice asked. "I thought Winnie-the-Pooh was the only bear who ate it."

Hatter shook his head.

"Of course they eat honey. And I Think Pooh is a distant relative of theirs."

"If Winnie-the-Pooh is a distant relative of Wobears, then I'm related to the Queen of England."

"You are?" Alice asked.

"You're Majesty, you never told us that."

"That's because I'm not. Now either finish the game or put it away."

"Well, you don't have to be so pushy about it." Hatter remarked.

"Mr. Hatter." Alice hissed.

"Don't worry." Hatter assured her. "Your Mom's used to me by now."

As they were finishing up the game, Rabbit called them for dinner.

"Mind if I stay?" Hatter asked.

The Queen was about to object when Rabbit skated in. He smiled upon seeing Hatter.

"Would you like to stay for dinner too?"

"I'd love to. Thanks!"

"Yes!" Alice cheered as she went to her seat.

The Queen glared at Rabbit.

At least the Cheshire Cat hadn't appeared and asked for an invitation to eat with them.

As they were finishing up a dinner of chicken cutlets, green beans and pasta, a low rumbling sound was heard.

"Rabbit! I told you to fix that refrigerator ages ago!" The Queen said.

"If I may You're Majesty," Rabbit answered, "I don't think it's the refrigerator."

"Well, then what is it?"

"I believe it's the start of a storm."

"What? We haven't had a storm here since…well…come to think of it, we've never had one. Not since I became Queen anyway."

"I can name a few other things we haven't had since you've become Queen." He mused aloud.

"Like what?" She demanded.

Alice knew it was better to keep her mouth shut during these times. Besides, it was much more fun to watch what was to come.

Hatter shrugged.

"Can I get back to you on that?"

Alice giggled at his words.

"What are you laughing at?"

Alice gave her mother an innocent look.

"Never mind. Rabbit, clean up the dinner dishes and then I would like you to tend to that refrigerator."

"But Mr. Rabbit said the fridge wasn't broken." Alice reminded her Majesty.

"So what. It's bound to be broken sooner or later with his track record."

Alice frowned, but chose to keep her two cents to herself.

She might have been only seven, but she knew the Queen well enough by now.

After dinner was over, the three retired to the living room, where Hatter attempted to teach Alice how to play Janga.

The young girl seemed to get the hang of it rather quickly and before Hatter knew it, she had beaten him three times.

"So, what do you want to play now?" He asked. "Crazy eights? Poker?"

"She most certainly is not!"

"Did I say Poker? I-I meant Go Fish."

The Queen eyed him suspiciously.

"Come on, Alice. Let's get fishing before your mother fries my tail."

"Now, I don't see that happening since you don't have one.."

Just then, the Cheshire Cat appeared.

"Go Fish, huh? Don't mind if I do. What fish is it? Salmon, tiger fish or is it the very popular Catfish?"

"Niether. Now get out of here!"

"Aw, look at this face. Tell me you can resist it?"

"I can resist it. Now scat!"

The Cheshire Cat disappeared after promising he would be back later with treats.

"Finally."

No sooner had the words left her mouth, Dinah poked her head in the room. She ran over to the Queen and jumped in her lap.

"What do you want?" She asked.

Dinah meowed before starting to purr.

"She likes you." Alice told her mother. "Let her sit there. She's not going to ruin anything. Although you might want to move your soda to another table. She's stolen mine before."

"What do you mean?"

Alice shrugged.

"Just what I said. She sticks her head in and starts drinking it."

"You need to teach your cat edakut."

"I've tried." Alice said. "Maybe there's a school in Wondaland for training cats."

"If there was, I'd send the Cheshire Cat there in a heartbeat. Although something tells me he would be thrown out faster than he could disappear."

Before Alice knew it, it was time for bed. She did her nightly routine with one exception. Instead of Rabbit telling her a story, she begged Hatter to.

She only had to ask once for him to agree.

Against her better judgment, the Queen allowed this.

However, she did set down a few ground rules.

There would be no stories about monsters, ghosts, witches or anything else that would keep her daughter awake with nightmares and keep her Majesty from her royal beauty sleep.

After promising her Majesty he would follow the rules, the Queen left.

"Finally. Now we can get down to some real storytelling. Have you ever heard the true story of Goldilocks and the three Wobears?"

"True story? And isn't it Goldilocks and the three Bears?"

"Not around here."

"What's the difference?" Alice asked.

"Well, I thought you'd never ask." With that, he began the story.

After he was done, he tucked Alice in before leaving to see what the Queen was up to. He was hoping to get a second piece of apple pie and knew it wouldn't be possible if her Majesty was around.

An hour or so later, Alice awoke to the sound of something crashing and splattering against her windows.

Sitting up straight, she gazed around just as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. It illuminated the courtyard beyond her window and made the shadows on her wall seem more ominous.

Not wasting any time, Alice jumped out of bed and went in search of some comfort.

She passed her mother's room, knowing the Queen would not be pleased if she woke her up.

Moving on, Alice saw that the light in the kitchen was on.

Thinking Rabbit was doing his midnight sprucing of the room for the next day's meals, she ventured inside.

But it wasn't Rabbit who occupied the kitchen table, but Hatter.

He had made himself at home fairly quickly. A cup of tea and a plate of leftover pie sat in front of him.

Sensing someone in the doorway, Hatter glanced up to see the frightened eyes of his young friend staring back at him.

A teddy bear was clutched in her arms.

"Hey Alice!" He said as he swallowed the piece of pie. "I didn't know you were awake." With that, he motioned for the young girl to join him. "I won't tell if you won't." He said, winking at her.

Alice practically flew across the room as another crash of thunder could be heard throughout the palace.

As she went to sit in a chair next to Hatter, he reached out and pulled her onto his lap.

"Want some?" He asked, holding out a small piece of pie.

Alice shook her head and jumped as another clap of thunder could be heard.

She wrapped her arms around Hatter's neck and buried her face in his shoulder. The teddy bear fell to the floor unnoticed.

Dinah, who had been curled up underneath of the table in hopes of getting a sweet morsel, grabbed the bear in her front paws and laid back down.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a game of bowling." He said referring to the racket outside.

Alice pulled away just enough to give him a curious look.

"Bowling? What do you mean?"

"Nobody ever told you before?" He asked in astonishment.

"Told me what?"

"That thunder is just the wobears having their bowling tournament."

"What about the lightning?" Alice questioned.

"Well, how do you expect them to see what they're doing." Hatter asked. "They're not cats."

"That's right." The Cheshire Cat said as he appeared before them. "Alice, I didn't know you were a fraidy cat."

Alice glared at him before getting comfortable once again. She felt safe and wasn't about to move.

"I think we fixed that." Hatter told him.

"How so?" The Cat asked.

"I told her about the Wobear bowling tournament."

"Wobears? Is that what you think makes that noise?" He asked.

"We know that's what makes that noise." Hatter said.

"Wrong." He said in a sing-song voice. "Don't listen to him, Alice. That sound is really the annual cat races."

Before Alice could ask what the Cat was talking about, there was another flash of lightning before everything went dark.

The Cat smiled as though reassuring her it was okay.

"We don't have a problem." He said. "Cats never have a problem seeing in the dark."

Just as Alice let out a fearful sob, they were joined by none other than the Queen.

"What's going on around here? And what are you doing here?" She demanded, pointing at the cat. "I told you to high tail it out of here."

"I would, but it seems Alice needs me. Besides, Dinah said something about sharing her cat bowl with me."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," the Queen began. "But I think Hatter has it under control."

" I don't know about that." He retorted. "Besides, I think you need me more than you think you do."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the only one who can see in the dark."

"You're not the only one who can see in the dark, you know." Alice pointed out. "Dinah can too."

"That's why I like her so much."

"If you're done with your cat chit chat, would someone mind telling me what's going on around here? Now."

"I would think it was obvious." Hatter said. "The power's gone out."

"What in Wonderland would cause that to happen?"

"Now even a wise Queen like you would know the answer to that one, You're Majesty."

"Stop trying to butter me up. You can't use the royal pool."

Hatter frowned.

"It was worth a try. But to answer your question, I think the storm blew a power line out."

"How do we fix it?" The Queen asked.

"Well, we need to find your fuse box." Hatter replied. "Then we need to reset the circuit breakers."

The Queen nodded.

"What's a circuit breaker?"

"It's where the electricity comes from." Hatter answered. With that, he got up and went for the basement.

"Allow me." The Cheshire cat offered. With that, he disappeared and reappeared at the base of the stairs. "All clear from here."

As Hatter started walking down, the Queen called after him.

"Maybe I should call a professional."

"Well, since the phones are out too, you're in luck that I'm here."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the professional you were looking for."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Oh come on, You're Majesty. I'm known around Wonderland as the Royal Electrician Technician. My motto is, if you've lost power, count on me to find it again."

"Uh, Mr. Hatter?" Alice started.

"Not now, Alice. I'm trying to explain something to your mother. And you know how long that could take."

"I heard that!" The Queen yelled from where she was standing at the top of the stairs. "Just fix the problem. And try not to create a new one when you're down there."

"Sure thing. You'll have your electricity back faster than you can say tea and crumpets. Now, where's that magnifying glass."

"Mr. Hatter. I don't think our electricity is really lost."

"Alice, Alice, Alice, whose the professional around here."

"I'm wondering that myself."

Remarkably, Hatter managed to restore the Queen's electricity with only minor problems.

As Hatter settled back down in the living room twenty minutes later with a fast asleep Alice in his arms, the Queen entered the room.

"Well, I don't believe I'm saying this, but well done."

"I told you I could find your electricity again."

The Queen nodded. She then spotted Alice and reached her arms out as though to take her from the young man.

"Aww, let her go for now." Hatter bargained. "She's comfortable. And she looks soo cute."

"Well, I can't argue with that." The Queen agreed. "Just don't put her to bed too late. Heaven knows she'll be in a right state tomorrow."

"I wonder where she gets that from." Hatter mumbled to nobody in particular.

"I heard that!"

THE END


End file.
